While proving the effectiveness of radio advertising hasn't always been easy, using new metrics have helped make that proof indisputable, as shown in a case study in Audacy's recent “Advertising Tips” blog.
To help a family-owned chain of diners with 16 locations in the Detroit area boost traffic during happy hour, increase customer loyalty, and attract repeat customers, the radio group created a six-week audio ad campaign. To ensure the measurability of the campaign, which included :15 and :30 spots during morning drive on local radio and digital streaming, along with digital in-car audio displays to add a visual element, the chain held off on other marketing during those six weeks.
Location-based analytics tool Placer.ai showed that during the campaign, visits to the restaurants went up 20% year-over-year from 2-6pm, with some locations showing foot traffic up as high as 40%.
“In general, providing attribution is hard, but our radio campaign, combined with Placer’s reporting, showed the direct impact of our marketing when no other marketing occurred, and it was unbelievable,” Audacy Senior VP of Search, Social, and Performance Digital Jennifer Killeen says. “You just can’t argue with a 20% increase in foot traffic over 6 weeks. Our customer was blown away by the depth of insights we’re able to share using Placer.ai, making it easier to prove our ability to generate real-world results.”
How was Placer able to show that visitations were up in almost every daypart, with customers visiting more frequently and staying longer? “Combining privacy-safe foot traffic data from tens of millions of mobile devices, including consumer psychographics, spending patterns, and media consumption, it uses machine learning to form an aggregated view of physical locations, the consumers and businesses that interact with them, and the markets they inhabit,” Audacy Senior VP, Strategy Partnerships & Analytics Jon Blum says. “These data points provide crucial intel into a brand’s customers and offer insight into how radio can grow business.”
The case study's major takeaway is, says Blum, “one of audio’s superpowers is driving customers to brick-and-mortar locations. From sit-down and quick-serve restaurants to retailers and entertainment brands, advertisers with physical locations are more focused than ever on attribution and proving return on investment. We work with several third-party data specialists to provide the latest in data analytics and demonstrate that audio gets results.”